Overtime Pay Rule Struck Down

On August 31, 2017, U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant of Texas invalidated the Obama administration’s rule to expand overtime pay to more than 4 million workers. The judge ruled that the regulation would override Congress' intent that workers' eligibility for overtime pay should primarily depend on their job duties. Mazzant concluded that, instead, the rule made salary the primary factor in determining whether a worker could receive overtime pay.

In May, 2016, the Obama administration announced a final rule that would have automatically extended overtime pay eligibility to most salaried, white-collar workers earning less than $913 a week ($47,476 a year) to overtime pay. Under the proposed rule, landscape architecture professionals who meet the new salary requirements of $913 a week, or $47,476 annually, likely would have been exempt from overtime pay under the “learned professionals” exemption if they satisfied all requirements under a test. Just prior to the rule taking affect, in November 2016, Judge Mazzant temporarily halted the rule to give him time to hear the case and determine the validity of the rule.

This recent ruling will maintain the status quo, keeping in place the current $23,660 salary threshold for overtime pay.